CAIRO, Egypt — Al-Qaeda’s leader said Egypt’s military coup that ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi provides proof that Islamic rule cannot be established through democracy, and urged the Islamist leader’s followers to abandon the ballot box in favour of armed resistance.

In a 15-minute audio message posted online late Friday, Ayman al-Zawahri also lashed out at the Egyptian military, the country’s secular and liberal elites as well as the Coptic Christian minority, accusing them of conspiring against Morsi solely because he was an Islamist.

Egypt’s army ousted Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected leader, on July 3 after days of mass protests demanding the president’s removal. The coup has divided the nation into rival camps, with an array of liberal and secular Egyptians supporting the military’s move and Morsi’s supporters and Islamist allies rejecting it.

“We have to admit first that legitimacy does not mean elections and democracy, but legitimacy…

Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, faced the prospect of fresh political turmoil Thursday after an opposition leader was shot dead outside his home, in the country’s second political assassination this year.

Mohammed Brahmi, 58, the leader of the Left-wing nationalist Movement of the People party, was killed after being hit by 11 bullets fired by two gunmen as he sat in a car in the capital, Tunis.

The attackers sped off on a moped after the incident, which was witnessed by Mr. Brahmi’s wife and daughter.

Another Left-wing politician, Chokri Belaid – who belonged to the same Popular Front coalition as Mr. Brahmi – was killed in a similar incident in February in an assassination the government blamed on Islamic extremists. The latest murder, coinciding with the 56th anniversary of Tunisia’s independence, threatened to plunge the North African country deeper into instability as Mr. Brahmi’s supporters gathered in…

A lot has changed over the last couple of weeks in Australian politics. Pressure on the coalition is beginning to increase as the election slowly draws closer and as the government under Kevin Rudd claws back much lost ground and re-election begins to look a more and more viable prospect. ALP reform is increasingly a vote winner for the government and the link below is to an article that takes a closer look at the proposed reforms.

After applying months of intense scrutiny to Peter Slipper and Craig Thompson concerning various alleged rorts, Opposition leader Tony Abbott is now facing his own travel rorts scandal for wrongly claimed travel expenses. Will Tony Abbott now do what he expected to be done concerning those he criticised opposite him? Unlikely I’d say. The link below is to an article reporting on the matter.